About Me

When not nosing, tasting, drinking and reading about malt whisky, I own one of Israel's premiere boutique coaching practices, specializing in small businesses and executive teams.
Trained in the law, I was an international law attorney and took part in Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as representing my country at the UN for parts of the negotiations on the implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Later I was appointed to the military bench.
My favorite thing, other than whisky, is teaching.
You can contact me through the social media buttons above or by email: michael(at)maltandoak.com, replacing the (at) with an @.

Statement of Integrity and Guidelines

Malt and Oak is an independent whisky blog, offering my own views, opinions and news from the world of malt whisky.
These are my guidelines:

1. All whisky reviews published are of whiskies I have personally tasted and noted. Guest bloggers only write about their own personal tastings.

2. With the exception of official whisky samples, I accept no consideration whatsoever from any distillery, bottler, distributor, drink company or store for my opinions.

3. I maintain strict impartiality and objectivity in tasting all whiskies, not least when tasting official samples. Any review of official whisky samples sent to me will be so noted in the post.

4. I will accept invitations to tastings, events and official visits, and full disclosure will be made on any tasting notes and articles resulting from these events or visits.

5. Any sample received over 30 ml in volume is shared with fellow whisky bloggers. In any event, no sample larger than 100 ml will be accepted.

6. No advertisements promoting specific brands will be accepted.

7. I will answer any inquiry by my readers as quickly and as fully as possible.

8. Should I give a link purchase the reviewed whisky, it will be given free of any commercial interest. The link given will always point to cheapest selling price I found on the web. No commission is paid, nor any other consideration given, for such link.

9. As of July 2017, I serve as Douglas Laing’s Israel brand ambassasdor. As such, I will obviously not be posting reviews of Douglas Laing products.

Two 27 Year Old Irish Single Cask – Whisky Agency TWE Exclusives (46.8% and 51.3%)

The third day at the Whisky Show is the trade day, and us whisky bloggers were invited to a liquid breakfast by Billy. At the breakfast, we were informed that The Whisky Exchange itself will now be seeking to be more active in bottling independent bottlings. We tasted three bottlings, a 27 year old 1990 Irish, a Cognac – which is planned to be a special focus of TWE going forward, with the thought of making cask strength quality Cognac available to whisky drinkers, and a 1977 Strathtisla, bottled by Gordon and MacPhail at 40 years old. I’ll have more on that one when I taste the G&M Highland Park I just got in a nice care package from The Whisky Exchange.

In that care package that came today, there was also a sample of the 1990 Irish whiskey bottled by German independent bottler The Whisky Agency. So basically, I learned that there were two casks bottled, and Iwhile I tasted the 1989 at an event, so my notes are not perfect, they’re definitely representative of the dram, and will help you decide if either of these bottles (or both) are for you.

Both bottles only state that they’re Irish, but given the time of distillation and the fact that a bunch of casks from that era were left with the Teelings when Beam bought Cooley, I’d venture a guess that this liquid was distilled at Bushmills. Of course, nobody will confirm this to me directly, but I’d put money on it.

Nose: Warm honey with pepper and some green vegetation. A hint of mustiness, but it’s pretty subdued, with a some canned peaches. A bit of mint leaves, with a hint of not fully ripened banana and baking bread.

Palate: Spicy and green, with pepper and a lot of tropical fruit. I get mango, passion fruit and papaya, as well as black pepper, hint of cinnamon and honey.

Linger: Mango and spice, medium length, with spices remaining down the gullet. The inner cheeks are dry and there’s a residual sweetness on the tongue, with pepper all around the mouth, together with a lovely bitter note.

Conclusion

This is an excellent example of the type of whisky that whisky lovers will enjoy regardless of where they fall in the fandom of Irish whisky. This is complex and beautiful and is definitely a bottle you’d be happy to have in your cabinet.